Snowpiercer is a South Korean sci-fi action film, based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob & Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. This co-production, by South Korea and the US, stars Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton.

Lai Ming has the review.

Just one month ago, South Korean soap opera "My Love from the Stars" reached insane levels of popularity in China. Its lead actor Kim Soo-Hyun is still raking in appearance fees from various commercial events in China.

But South Korean films are quite a different story. The country's most expensive co-production to date, "Snowpiercer", is now being screened in China and has fallen behind Chinese art-house movie "Black Coal, Thin Ice" in terms of box office earnings. That's important because as we mentioned last week art-house films don't usually sell very well in China.

Strangely enough, the Bong Joon-ho movie is an excellent product and deserves better recognition. Some of my better-informed colleagues decided to watch it simply because it was made by the director of "Memories of Murder" and "The Host". Yet the majority of Chinese viewers haven't been able to warm up to the film's allegorical title.

More allegorical is the story. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, "Snowpiercer" revolves around a world-touring behemoth of a locomotive which carries onboard the surviving population of mankind after an environmental breakdown. Our lead character Curtis is an underdog passenger living in the tail section, which means, he is at the bottom of the train's social system. Alongside an equally discontent fellowship of passengers, Curtis starts a revolt against the system and seeks to take control of the train. But as he advances further into the front section, he gets a larger picture of human existence in such a miniature society, and he is compelled to make a decision when he meets the captain in the engine room.

While the setting is a metaphor to a world where the social hierarchies are frozen and social mobility impossible, the storyline reveals the worldview of the original storywriter Jacques Lob. You may agree to disagree with his portrayal, but the seed of doubt has been sown. Bong Joon-ho's film adaptation successfully conveys the author's idea and at the same time leads many viewers to explore the issue themselves and come up with their own answer.

If you think this film sounds too serious, don't be put off because it is also very entertaining. Lead actor Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho and many of the film's other male actors go to great lengths to stage impressive and realistic action scenes throughout. Their masculinity is balanced by the spirited acting of Tilda Swinton, who supplies quite a few laughs with her quaint accent, gloomy smirks and frenzied gestures.

So, "Snowpiercer" is actually not bad. But since it's not as brainless as South Korean soap operas, it's not easily digestible for lazy moviegoers.